This invention relates to an improved apparatus for supporting machinery or other load. It is known that machinery is subject to differential thermal expansion and contraction. These phenomena typically occur as a rotating machine warms up during startup or cools down after shutdown.
Because of expansion during heatup, adjustment is often required in the alignment of such a machine (which alignment is maintained by whatever system supports the machine) after the machine reaches operating temperature. However, the machine typically must be shut down for, and thus tends to cool down during, the realignment process. This cooldown can introduce inaccuracies into the alignment. Rapid adjustability is thus a desirable feature of a support system.